Cold weather and cattle

The predicted cold and wet weather arrived. From highs near 90 degrees, Wednesday's high temperature was officially only 54 degrees (though my thermometer never got above 51). About 35 degrees colder. And it feels it! I put one of my flannel shirts back on.

While my house cooling method is to close the windows during the day then open them at night when it is cooler; to save the house's heat for the cooler weather I did the opposite. Yesterday my house was warm compared to outside and I didn't have to use my wood stove. While today is another cloudy cool damp mid-50 degree day, the house is still relatively warm. At least warm enough I don't have to use my wood stove.

I hope we can get back to 70 degrees soon as this too cool / too warm / too cool cycle is too much.

Too bad I didn't get my garden planted before the rain and cool weather. The seeds would have started and it would have been easier for my indoor starter plants to make the transition to being outside.


The cattle are doing fine, though I imagine the cattle that still have some of their winter coats are happier than the others who are sleek.

Today Dan brought out 9 more cattle. That makes 18 for him and 30 all total. Lots of cattle now. Definitely what you'd call a herd. Going from 21 to 30 is only 9 more, but somehow it makes the herd look way larger.

The cattle are still in the NE pasture and I can see their effect on the grass even after a couple days. With 30 cattle now it won't take long before I rotate them to another pasture.

Dan brought his 9 cattle in two trips. These newer cattle are some big cattle. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of his cattle over 1000 lbs by the end of summer.

The previous cattle were all excited to get company and each time Dan arrived they ran from the pasture to the corral to meet the truck and trailer and new cattle. Of course that made getting through the gate a little harder as I had to watch that none made a jailbreak. One of my heifers started a run but I quickly cut her off and closed the gate.

Dan's latest cattle weren't too pleased at being left behind as they mooed for a while and moved around and around checking the boundaries and looking for a way back home. Some of the previous cattle wanted to make friends, others wanted to test their strength against the newcomers, and others just wanted to eat and seemed to get annoyed at the herds constant movement. Cattle like to stay relatively close together.

Now all I need is for it to rain on a regular basis and for the grass to keep growing.